1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to a multi-player, multi-screens digital gaming platform for enabling digitally playing a multi-player social games in multiple screens possibly running on different hardware platforms.
The use of “social games” refers to inter personal social games including digital versions of traditional and new board, card, dice, and similar games.
2. Related Arts
Electronic augmentation of traditional board games has been an active area of research and product development, as electronic board games offer certain additional advantages without affecting, and often enhancing, the fundamental enjoyment factors of the traditional games. Some of the advantages include enhanced player interaction support, compact board footprint for playing and storing the game, ability to load multiple games on the same board, no loose game-pieces to be lost, easy on-demand access to digitally stored information regarding game rules and strategy suggestions, real-time game status updates, etc. These advantages are applicable to both single-player board games, and multi-player board games.
Traditional multi-player board and card games, such as, Scrabble, Monopoly, Risk, Chess, Texas Hold'em etc., and more recent designer board games, such as, Settlers of Catan, Apples to Apples, Uno etc., promote live social interaction among two or more players. The social interaction experience is different from the experience of playing computer or electronic games designed to enable a single player to interact with a machine and/or Internet players. Often a collaborative/competitive multi-player board game experience is more desired by the players than the isolation typically associated with a computer/electronic game.
Therefore, what is needed is a crossover gaming platform that offers the merits of conventional games, while adding digital features that enrich the game-playing experience, as well as provide practical conveniences, such as versatility and ease of storage.